zakanaka

Churches barred from holding camp


Bulawayo - The Zimbabwe government has banned the church from
Helensvale Farm holding camp for Bulawayo families displaced by the
government's clean-up campaign. Church leaders, who had sheltered the
about 300 homeless people at their churches before their relocation to
Helensvale last week, will now have to seek permission from Bulawayo
governor Cain Mathema to visit the camp, about 20 km north-west of the
city. The religious leaders from various denominations had held on to
the families, resisting government efforts to move them to the camp
demanding that basic amenities be first installed at Helensvale and
also guarantees they would be allowed to continue helping the displaced
families. The government agreed to the churches request only to turn
back on its word on Tuesday this week when state security officials and
welfare officers interrupted a church pastor in the middle of a sermon
and told him the church was no longer welcome at the camp. Pastor
Albert Chatindo of the Christian Faith Fellowship Church that is among
about 20 churches from Bulawayo that was helping raise aid for the
displaced families as well as ministering among them said the
government officials told him they had been instructed by superiors in
Harare to bar churches from the holding camp.


"They (government officials) said I should get off the farm
immediately. I had to beg to go back to get my jacket and Bible,"
Chatindo told Zim Online. "The social welfare officer said they had
received instructions from Harare not to allow churches on to the farm.
They said we now have to get clearance from the governor before going
to the farm," he added. The government's change of tack came at a
time when a South African Council of Churches delegation was expected
in Bulawayo as part of a countrywide tour of Zimbabwe to assess aid
requirements for people displaced by the government urban clean-up
campaign. In the meantime, the government has also stepped up pressure
on displaced people still sheltered at church halls to leave the halls
and go either to Helensvale or to their rural homes. A team of police
officers on Wednesday went around Bulawayo churches collecting
identification details and finger prints of people staying at the
churches in preparation of their relocation which sources indicated
must take place by Monday next week.